One reason for selecting Pune as the first market was that it is among the more successful hyperlocal markets for the company, and that it’s a large market for two-wheelers.Priyanka Sangani | ET Bureau | May 06, 2016, 08:13 IST

Kiran Murthi, CEO, AskmeBazaar, told ET, "This is our first extension into both products and services. Most automobile purchases require loan and insurance processing, vehicle registration, accessories etc, and we will provide end to end transactional services."

He added that the company would focus on stabilising the model in Pune first, before rolling it out pan-India to the Top 30 cities where the company already had a presence, by June.

The company is currently working with local dealers, and not manufacturers to process these sales.

Murthi said that four orders had been placed within the first week, and while the actual transaction numbers would be relatively low, the average ticket size would be large given the category. "We would have to do 40 transactions a month to break even," he said.

Over the last two years, the company has focused on the hyperlocal model which Murthi said was working well for them. One reason for selecting Pune as the first market was that it is among the more successful hyperlocal markets for the company, and that it's a large market for two-wheelers.

AskmeBazaar is working to sign on more auto dealers, spare parts suppliers and loan and insurance companies as it tries to create the entire ecosystem needed to service this category.

AskmeBazaar would be focusing on two-wheelers for the foreseeable future and would explore the option of adding four-wheelers closer to the end of the year. Snapdeal was the first ecommerce company to launch two-wheeler sales in November 2015, followed by Flipkart.

Earlier this year, Flipkart said that it wanted two percent of all two-wheelers sales in the country through its platform.

The automobile industry in India has the potential to generate up to $300 billion in annual revenue by 2026 as per the Automotive Mission Plan 2016-26, a roadmap prepared jointly by the Government of India and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

Prices of most SUVs were cut between Rs 1.1 lakh and Rs 3 lakh following the implementation of GST, which subsumed over a dozen central and state levies like excise duty, service tax, and VAT from July 1.